Pregnant Women Show High Immune Response To The Flu

Despite previous findings that during pregnancy, a mother-to-be's immune response is weaker than normal, recent research suggests that the opposite is true. In particular, researchers have actually found that pregnant women build up an unusually strong immune response to the flu, otherwise known as influenza, during this critical time for the mother and child.

"We were surprised by the overall finding," said lead study authorCatherine Blish, MD, PhD, assistant professor of infectious diseases, in a news release. "We now understand that severe influenza in pregnancy is a hyperinflammatory disease rather than a state of immunodeficiency. This means that treatment of flu in pregnancy might have more to do with modulating the immune response than worrying about viral replication."

For the study, researchers examined the reactions of immune cells taken from pregnant women to influenza viruses, including the H1N1 strain that caused the 2009 flu pandemic.

"If our finding ends up bearing out in future studies, it opens the possibility that we can develop new immune-modulating treatment approaches in the setting of severe influenza, especially in pregnant women," concluded study author Alexander Kay, MD, instructor in pediatric infectious diseases.

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.